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American actress Meghan Markle has spoken publicly for the first time about her relationship with one of the world’s most eligible bachelors, Prince Harry.

Markle appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair’s October issue and revealed that she and Harry dated for six months before the news broke of their relationship, adding that they are “two people who are really happy and in love”.

“I can tell you that at the end of the day I think it’s really simple,” she said.

“We’re two people who are really happy and in love. We were very quietly dating for about six months before it became news, and I was working during that whole time, and the only thing that changed was people’s perception.

“Nothing about me changed. I’m still the same person that I am, and I’ve never defined myself by my relationship.”

Speculation over an impending engagement has been rife from early on in their relationship after Harry took the unprecedented move of releasing a public statement in November 2016, asking the press and public to show his girlfriend some respect, saying she had been “subject to a wave of abuse and harassment”.

It added: “Some of this has been very public — the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.”

It continued: “Prince Harry is worried about Ms Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her. It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms Markle should be subjected to such a storm.

“He knows commentators will say this is ‘the price she has to pay’ and that ‘this is all part of the game’. He strongly disagrees. This is not a game — it is her life and his.”